Film - reviews, previews and interviews

Interview Edgar Wright

Chris Lochery meets the man behind 'Spaced', Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and now, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

Think of the seminal sitcoms of the last 30 years – British, American or from anywhere you please - and then try to think of their directors. You’ll be able to mention any number of the starring actors fairly easily, probably a fair number of the writers too. What about directors?

‘The Office’ you’ll probably know was directed by Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant, but their celebrity is more to… Read more...

Film Review Grown Ups

US 2010. Cert 12A. 102 mins. Dir: Dennis Dugan. Cast: Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Steve Buscemi, Rob Schneider, David Spade, Salma Hayek

Adam Sandler is a name now synonymous with juvenile comedy, whether he’s playing the part of actor, producer or writer. His latest foray, Grown Ups, is no different and reunites him with the director responsible for You Don’t Mess With The Zohan, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Big Daddy and Happy Gilmore.

“Play life just like you played that game today,” advises coach “Buzzer” to his championship junior… Read more...

Film Review Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Cert 12A, USA 2010. 112 mins. Director: Edgar Wright. Cast: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jason Schwartzman, Brandon Routh, Chris Evans

If you’d have said 10 years ago that one of the most hotly anticipated films of 2010 was an adaptation of a Canadian comic book about a weedy looking twenty-something who fancies a really pretty girl then all you’d have heard was laughter. But now, as the sins of Bryan Adams and Alanis Morissette have been all but forgiven, comic books have gained a huge amount of credibility and geek… Read more...

DVD Review Dear John

US 2010. Cert 12. 104 mins. Dir: Lasse Hallstrom. Cast: Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins, Henry Thomas

Instead of promoting a film, trailers sometimes have the reverse effect of making a film appear so terrible that watching it will be painful. The trailer for Dear John falls into this category.

Based upon a Nicholas Sparks novel, Dear John serves up more romantic mush following the same formula of loss, heartache, reunion and letter-writing seen in the hugely successful earlier adaptation of Sparks’ novel The Notebook. Instead of… Read more...

DVD Review The Joneses

US 2010. Cert 15. 93 mins. Dir: Derrick Borte. Cast: Demi Moore, David Duchovny, Gary Cole, Glenne Headly, Amber Heard, Ben Hollingsworth

Forget the seed of doubt the trailer might have planted and let an impressive directional debut with an ingenious premise flourish. Taking product placement to the extreme, The Joneses follows a show family carefully comprised of top sales assistants who face monthly reviews of stats and line graphs to analyse both their personal performance and combined sales as a “unit”.

Operating as a “self-marketing” team, their daily table talk… Read more...

Interview Oliver Stone

John Mosby talks Wall Street and Hugo Chevez with the controversial director

In Wall Street and its upcoming sequel, Oliver Stone preaches that bankers are bad. However when it comes to so-called evil dictators, he wants us to know they’re, well… merely misunderstood.

If South American ruler Hugo Chavez thinks he gets bad press in the US then he probably compared notes with director Oliver Stone when they met for Stone’s new documentary, South of the Border. Rarely… Read more...

Film Review Cuckoo

Certificate tbc, UK 2009. 89 mins. Director: Richard Bracewell. Cast: Richard E. Grant, Laura Fraser, Tamsin Greig, Antonia Bernath, Adam F

It’s never a good sign when two film critics leave a preview screening 30 minutes in to a film. It’s worse still when the remaining audience laugh at all the attempts at gravitas or terror and yawn their way through moments of supposed tenderness.

But when the film they are watching is as slow, repetitive and, dare I say it, boring as Cuckoo, it’s actually a mark of professionalism and… Read more...